Street Fighter 5 Release Date Announced Along With Dhalsim

Capcom has been on a roll lately with their Street Fighter V content. Opposite of Namco with Tekken 7, Capcom has been consistently and frequently unveiling new characters and content, including an old-time favorite from Street Fighter II... Dhalsim.

Over on the PlayStation blog they not only revealed Dhalsim but also revealed that the release date is February 16th, 2016. The blog also detailed the fight money feature to unlock new characters and the roadmap for the game's DLC. Before getting to that, check out Dhalsim's introductory trailer.

Dhalsim's yoga fire attacks are still there, but oh boy have they been greatly improved. They can now be used as projectile traps as opposed to just using them as long range zoning attacks. This definitely elevates Dhalsim's game a lot considering that you'll be able to setup some nifty combos in Street Fighter V using the Hindi fighter.

That's one thing I noticed with Capcom's approach to Street Fighter V as opposed to the previous games in the series: nearly everyone is top tier or can become top tier. The only one I have my doubts about is Necalli. His attacks – I just don't see how he's going to be top tier compared to characters like Charlie, Karin and especially Ken. I also have my doubts about the effectiveness of Laura's grab-based move-set but we'll need to see more before making any judgments.

But speaking of the new characters in the game, Capcom has plans on furthering the roster beyond the initial 16 playable pugilists that will be available at launch. According to some leaked data assets from the beta that data miners scoured through, the game actually has hooks for up to 19 characters, with 18 supposedly being ready by launch. Of course, Capcom could always change this depending on how things turn out.

In the PlayStation post they reveal that there will be six new characters released throughout 2016 at the span of one new character every two months leading up to 2017.

Gamers will be able to unlock new characters in Street Fighter V by either paying for it via DLC or unlocking them using the new fight money feature. The fight money can be earned by either doing daily challenges, such as firing x amount of fireballs or completing specific tasks with specific fighters. Fight money can also be earned by leveling up individual characters. The leveling system has nothing whatsoever to do with the balance of the fighters, it's not like Street Fighter Alpha 3's World Tour mode where you could upgrade the character stats. Instead the leveling system is strictly for earning fight money.

I will be very interested to see how the gaming community takes to this new approach to DLC and whether or not it will pan out for Capcom. Street Fighter V will be available on February 16th, 2016 for the PS4 and PC.